Thursday

Today could best be described as a Funny Old Day. Just me and The Dog as Lesley spent all day at her dad’s. A couple of gentle walks in the drizzle and a YouTube binge.

I was about half-way through the set of twice-daily blood pressure readings requested by my GP. Yesterday’s readings were both high but after a day with Lesley out my reading was normal.

Make of that what you will.

OK, in fairness I ought to say that the absence of Lesley wasn’t the only difference today. The Dog had opted out of a long and strenuous walk, I’d had a truncated breakfast (we had run out of milk) and I’d had hardly any caffeine (we don’t have instant coffee and I couldn’t be bothered to make a full pot just for myself).

Still, an normal blood pressure reading in the midst of a set of high ones. That didn’t come out of nowhere.

Getting to The Home left me unsure where Mum was in her cycle now. When I got to her her sheet was rolled into a ball but it wasn’t on her lap so she wasn’t quite ready to go.

The first thing she told me was that she’d been up to Kings College. “In London” she added so I knew which one she was talking about. It was all going fine apparently but then Nicholas kept her waiting and she felt “all funny”.

She told me “The Boys” were “over there” and gestured towards the lounge.

“Sounds like they’re up to no good if that racket is anything to go by”

“Yeah. I don’t know where The Girls have got to though”

Her mum was still there. She was hovering by the wardrobe.

“But she’s been here for days Mum!”

“I know. It’s not fair.”

Then there was a story about an encounter with a woman that hadn’t gone well.

“I’m not being spoken to like that by that bitch! But don’t you go saying anything in front of her.”

“I won’t Mum”

Her monologue continued. A few Other People came and went. It was early days in her cycle so they weren’t distinct enough for her to be able to tell who they were. So she asked me if I knew. I had to admit I didn’t.

I managed to let her know that Eldest Sister would be visiting on Sunday with one, some or all of her kids. Mum seemed unimpressed.

We got to a point where I thought she knew who I was so I told her it was my birthday.

“Is it!? Oh dear. I’m sorry” she said

A cup of tea was delivered and she managed half of it. She was able hold the cup herself today.

We listened to the night nurse trying to give Eleanor her evening meds. She was even more awkward than Mum which is quite an achievement.

The visit ended with me being sent out to tell Nicholas to come and get her stuff together because she was ready to go

Overall, she was much happier today. More mobile and comfortable and a bit less indistinct. I don’t think she’s reached her peak yet. That might be tomorrow morning. My current guestimate is that she’ll be asleep from tomorrow afternoon/evening and all day Saturday at least so Sunday’s visitors might be lucky.

But they probably won’t be.

Bibliography

Tales from the Parish: 31 humorous short stories about community, family and village life, set in the English countryside

Kindle Edition

by Stefania Hartley

Author’s Note

My Mum is in a nursing home in a small village in the Thames Valley. The photo is not of the home. I used an AI image generator to give the reader some idea of the home she’s in.

All, some or maybe even none (you’ll never know!) of the names have been changed to protect privacy and hide real identities. If you think you recognise someone then let me know and I’ll edit the post or remove it entirely